“It is amazing the amount of encouragement I have gotten from people—from friends and supporters,” Ryan told NBC News, who broke the news. “But I feel like I am in a position to make a big difference where I am and I want to do that.”

In the new Congress, Ryan is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, an influential post from which the 44-year-old will have considerable influence on the chamber’s work on taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and other federal programs. At his young age, Ryan doesn’t have to run in this cycle—he can wait out the next presidency.

On Tuesday, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus appointed Ryan the chair of the Presidential Trust, which is responsible for raising funds in coordination with candidates. Ryan also held the position in 2012.

Ryan praised his former running mate, former Massachusetts governor and two-time failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Romney recently told a group of donors that he is considering a bid, which aides have framed as a heroic sacrifice inspired by Romney’s distress about the state of the world, and the hopelessness of the G.O.P. field, which will likely face a tough contender in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “It is no secret that I have always thought Mitt would make a great president,” Ryan said. “As for his plans for 2016, I don't know what he is ultimately going to do and the last thing I want to do is get ahead of his own decision making process.”

If that’s not heroism, we don’t know what is. We’ll leave you with Ryan’s expert trolling of embattled Cowboys fan and Jerry Jones hugger, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, after the Green Bay Packers beat the Cowboys in the N.F.L. playoffs. One thing Ryan seems to know, that the elder Romney hasn’t quite figured out yet: it’s more fun to watch a presidential election, than to be in it.